A personal blog by a Black, Gay, Caribbean, Liberal, Progressive, Moderate, Fit, Geeky, Married, College-Educated, NPR-Listening, Tennis-Playing, Feminist, Atheist, Math Professor in Los Angeles, California
Thursday, September 04, 2008
US OPEN 2008: Venus Squanders 10 Set Points In Loss To Serena
Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the 2008 U.S. Open 7-6(6) 7-6(7) despite being down 3-5 in both sets as well as down 4-6 in both tiebreaks!
All in all, Venus squandered 10 set points, 2 in the first set tiebreak and 8 in the second set (she was up 5-3, 40-0 in the second set when she made a number of unforced errors and attempted winners to lose that game.) Notably, Serena had only two set points and she won both of them.
It just seemed to me that when she had a set point Venus got more tentative and sloppy with her technique. A number of those set points were on her own serve, and she should have been able to figure out a way to win. With that being said, when Serena was down she never ever gave up and started hitting the ball harder and moving incredibly. She made some "gets" that no other player on the tour (probably not even Venus) could have gotten their racquet on, numerous times.
All in all, it was a (relatively) high-quality, exciting match that took nearly two and a half hours.
Serena will face Dinara Safina in a semifinal match on Friday night for a chance to play in the US Open final for the fourth time.
Labels:
serena williams,
tennis,
US Open,
venus williams,
wta
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